Monthly Archives: January 2025

The Best of 2024 – Year in Review!

Posted on January 4, 2025 by smellincoffee

Without a doubt, 2024 will be remembered on this blog as The Year of Fiction. I am a nonfiction reader. Nonfiction has always dominated my public reading, from 2006 forward, and it’s never been close: usually nonfiction leads by margins … Continue reading →

Posted in General | 6 Comments

Biking and Brotherhood

Posted on January 4, 2025 by smellincoffee

Although my dad had stopped biking long before I came on the scene, there were enough photos of him and my uncles sitting on their engines to make me a sucker for shows like Sons of Anarchy and books like … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews | Tagged , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Strange Weather in Tokyo

Posted on January 3, 2025 by smellincoffee

There’s no resisting that cover! Tsukiko is a young woman on the cusp of middle age, not far from sailing into her forties. One night at her local sake bar, she puts in a order for snacks and hears an … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews | Tagged , , , , , , , | 11 Comments

My Holiday in North Korea

Posted on January 2, 2025 by smellincoffee

The “hermit kingdom” of North Korea, which is essentially a cult masquerading as a country, is one of the creepiest and most inhumane places on Earth. Wendy Simmons chose to go there, though, and shares her frustrating, confusing, and soul-troubling … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews, World Affairs | Tagged , , , , | 7 Comments

What I Read in 2024

Posted on January 1, 2025 by smellincoffee

January(1) Curbing Traffic: The Human Case for Fewer Cars in our Lives, Chris and Melissa Bruntlett(2) My Selma, Willie Mae Brown(3) In Search of Zarathrustra, Paul Kriwaczek(4) The Exchange, John Grisham(5) Distracted by Alabama, John Seay Brown Jr(6) Days at the Morisaki … Continue reading →

Posted in General | Tagged , | 13 Comments

WWW Wednesday | Moviewatch: December 2024!

Posted on January 1, 2025 by smellincoffee

Happy 2025, people! WHAT have you finished reading recently? I’m within an hour of finishing the Audible version of Strange Weather in Tokyo, but finishing it would give first blood to fiction and that will not do. WHAT are you … Continue reading →

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